0Before I even start this rant, let me acknowledge that I know Amazon doesn’t care, that Amazon will make decisions for Amazon’s own good, that I’d be an idiot to think Amazon would ever act to benefit authors if there’s a chance Amazon would be harmed by such action.
That said…
Yesterday, Amazon announced that it’s pulling the plug on Kindle Worlds, the fan fiction platform that’s been in place for a few years. Seed authors (who own the worlds) were completed blindsided, as were contributing authors (who wrote the stories). All Kindle World stories will be removed from Kindle Unlimited today; all stories will be removed from Amazon by July 1.
Contributing authors are left with two options:
1. Forget about their stories.
2. Rewrite their stories to remove all references to the Kindle World and republish those stories.
Of course, most contributing authors worked very hard to include as many references to the Kindle World as possible — that was part of the fun. So, option 2 will be impossible for a great number of authors.
And further of course, some authors spent a large portion of their writing time on stories that now have absolutely no home and no future.
There’s no appeal, no negotiation, no way to make exceptions for any specific worlds or stories.
Publishing is a tough business, and publishers have always held the upper hand. Amazon’s eliminating Kindle Worlds isn’t very different from a traditional publisher putting a book out of print (except, you know, there’s no meaningful reversion.) But hundreds of authors are affected by this single slash of the corporate pen, myself included.
If you want to read NICE WITCHES DON’T SWEAR, now’s your chance. Because by July 1, it will be gone forever.
You can buy your copy at http://bookl.ink/SwearKindle. As far as I know, it’ll stay on your Kindle after the book is removed from the Kindle store. (I’ll post here, if I learn otherwise.)